Startup Green is a groundbreaking incubator and accelerator programme presented as part of AREDAY, the American Renewable Energy Institute's leadership conference held each summer in Aspen, Colorado.

For the 2016 programme, over ten teams presented startup business projects focused on scaling renewable energy solutions, ranging from micro-solar metering to applications that track the construction and building process for infastructure.

The winner, Wave Solar Technologies, presented an all-in-one solution for distributed home energy, heating and cooling - securing a 5,000 Ven grand prize interest from venture capital investors present at AREDAY.

Tackling the $11.4 trillion home energy market, Wave Solar Technologies CEO Edward VanDyne showcased a 2kW solar and natural gas powered engine designed to replace current HVAC systems for residential homes. HVAC systems provide heating and cooling to homes, and typically run off the electrical grid supplying energy to the home. This $11 billion market has previously been difficult to link directly to solar energy production via a single unit, requiring costly hookups between a solar grid and traditional HVAC infrastructure.

Wave Solar has created a system to take energy, heating and cooling 'off the grid', enabling solar energy collectors attached to the roof to power an HVAC machine with a natural gas backup generator to fill in when solar can't do the full job. The result is the only compact system to provide all three home energy services in one unit.

VanDyne and his team have a background in engineering, with a team that includes a former Volkswagen Chief Scientist and an executive from General Motors. Their goal is to reduce the current $15,000 production and installation per unit cost to under $9,000 over the next several years, resulting in an average 3 year pay back in recouped energy savings for the consumer. To achieve their goal of moving 10,000 units annually, they are currently raising a $2 Million financing round to fund further product development.